SparkLabs Group and Mirae Asset Venture Investment have signed a term sheet to establish the SparkLabs Mirae Silk Road Fund I LP for Central Asian startups from Series A and beyond. The anchor investors will be Kazakhstan's QIC and Uzbekistan's IT Park Ventures. The agreement was signed in Seoul during the visits of the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to South Korea. During the same week, Kazakhstan and South Korea concluded commercial agreements worth $18.95 billion.
The fund's mandate is not tied to a specific industry, but the main priority is companies where AI is at the core of the product. The initial capital is $2 million with the possibility of increasing it to $10 million. IT Park Ventures is considering phased participation, subject to approvals. QIC is involved in 19 funds with a capitalization of $2.8 billion. Since 2013, SparkLabs has invested in over 600 startups, and Mirae Asset Financial Group manages $845 billion across 18 markets. Portfolio companies will receive support for entering markets in South Korea, the USA, and MENA.
Co-founder and general partner of the fund Aslan Sultanov called the emergence of Higgsfield as Kazakhstan's first unicorn a turning point: "Higgsfield becoming Kazakhstan's first unicorn was a turning point. It showed that a world-class AI company can be built in Central Asia." Higgsfield, founded by Yerzat Dulat and Alex Mashrapov, surpassed $1 billion in 2025. Sultanov noted that more than half of the region's population is under 30 years old. Kazakhstan is simultaneously developing digital assets: Balaji Srinivasan reopened Network School in August, Telegram launched its first regional office and AI laboratory, in September the National Center for Crypto Analytics was announced on the SupTech platform of the National Bank, and in July a framework for crypto mining was approved with access to electricity in exchange for contributions to the state reserve. Uzbekistan has created a regulated mining zone in Karakalpakstan with tax incentives until 2035 and the Beshkala Mining Valley framework. An office of SparkLabs is planned at IT Park in Tashkent.
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